The Sign of Peace

The Sign of Peace in the Roman Rite is in the Communion Rite, just after the Lord's Prayer and before the breaking of the bread. As it says in the General Instruction: "[After the Lord's Prayer, t]he Rite of Peace follows, by which the Church asks for peace and unity for herself and for the whole human family, and the faithful express to each other their ecclesial communion and mutual charity before communicating in the Sacrament.*" 
       So that's what it's about, but when it comes to providing a rubric on how to do it, there is no universal norm. All the General Instruction says is, "As for the sign of peace to be given, the manner is to be established by Conferences of Bishops in accordance with the culture and customs of the peoples. It is, however, appropriate that each person offer the sign of peace only to those who are nearest and in a sober manner.*"
       In the US, the conference of bishops has not promulgated anything formally on this. I do recall that, when the current Order of Mass was published in the late 1960s, our pastor said that for the Sign of Peace, we should shake hands with the person to our right, our left, in front of us, and behind us. I don't know if that was what his bishop told him, or if that came from another source.
       Nonetheless, with everything that has been said about the H1N1 virus, we all now know that the flu is readily transmitted from hand to hand. Therefore, many dioceses have been coming out with formal statements about how to convey the sign of peace.† We still don't have a directive from the US conference of bishops, so there is still wide latitude in terms of what is acceptable for the sign of peace. However, it wouldn't really be an effective sign of peace unless it is comfortable and meaningful to both parties in the exchange. 
       That's worth keeping in mind as we express to each other "our ecclesial communion and mutual charity" this cold and flu season.
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*GIRM, 82.
†I am currently traveling in the Boston Archdiocese, and I note that they have issued new directives on this, effective October 31, 2009 (to view those directives, click here).